The use of handguards on firearms, such as rifles, carbines, shotguns, and other long guns, is known. Such handguards may be made of wood, metal, plastic, or other materials or combinations of materials. Additionally, such handguards may have various functionalities depending on their design, including providing a gripping surface for the user, protecting the user from barrel heat, dissipating heat, providing connections for mounting of accessories, providing a desired visual appearance, etc. However, one drawback to existing handguards is lack of easy customizability, such as to achieve different functionality and/or appearance. Changing handguards can often be complicated and/or time consuming. The present invention seeks to overcome certain of these limitations and other drawbacks of the prior art, and to provide new features not heretofore available.